If Harajuku is the mecca for the hip young, Sugamo is where it's at for the elderly.
Widely known as "Granny's Harajuku," Sugamo -- a Toshima Ward shopping street and its vicinity -- has developed as a host town of Koganji Temple.
The temple's main deity is Togenuki Jizo, a thorn-picking child deity. Legend has it that in the early 18th century a woman who accidentally swallowed a sewing needle was saved by eating a piece of paper printed with the jizo's image.